The CIA provides hundreds of millions of dollars to Pakistan's spy service, including payments for the capture or killing of wanted militants, a US newspaper alleged, citing unnamed officials and former officials. The CIA's financial support accounts for as much as one-third of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency's budget, the Los Angeles Times reported on Sunday.
When contacted by AFP, the Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment Monday on the report. The payments were first approved by former president George W. Bush and have continued under President Barack Obama, the report said.
Compared to the vast amount of publicly declared military and civilian aid to Pakistan, CIA officials told the paper that their payments were a bargain. "They gave us 600 to 700 people captured or dead," one former CIA official who worked with the Pakistanis was quoted as saying. "Getting these guys off the street was a good thing, and it was a big savings to (US) taxpayers."